Washington, D.C. – The Corporation for National and Community Service heralded its first appearance on the list of “Best Places to Work in the Federal Government.” The Corporation was the third most-improved agency overall, improving its scores nearly ten percent since the 2004 Survey, and ranked fifth in the “Best in Class” category for the match between employee skills and the agency’s mission.

The Best Places rankings are based on a government-wide employee satisfaction survey that includes responses from more than 221,000 federal workers in 283 federal organizations. The rankings are produced by the Partnership for Public Service and American University's Institute for the Study of Public Policy Implementation.

“These results reflect extraordinary effort by staff and management over the last several years to improve strategic planning and management, to reward meaningful contributions more effectively, to expand our diversity and to address other challenges, said the Chairman of the Corporation’s Board of Directors Stephen Goldsmith.“The Board is grateful and commends the agency -- from the CEO to the Executive Team to the managers and the staff -- for their hard work and this excellent achievement.”

“We’re a small agency with a big mission, and our employees are some of the most talented and dedicated people anywhere in government,” said Corporation CEO David Eisner. “We’ve worked hard to listen to our staff, improve customer service, and focus on results. What’s most exciting is that these gains in employee satisfaction appear to be matched with increased satisfaction and support by many external stakeholders as well, especially national service participants and grantees.”

Goldsmith and Eisner cited several specific achievements over the past several years that have significantly contributed to employee effectiveness, productivity, and morale, including:

• Approved first strategic plan in more than 10 years, linking agency goals to individual job performances
• Replaced Pass-Fail performance management system with multi-level result-oriented appraisals
• Negotiated new collective bargaining agreement to replace 10-year old agreement
• Secured OPM approval for an interchange agreement conferring “noncompetitive” eligibility on Corporation employees, facilitating career progression within the Federal government
• Converted most term employees into general (career) appointments
• Overhauled business and technology systems to better meet customer service demands
• Created standardized customer service benchmarks, documenting needs and improvements for managing key stakeholders of Corporation program

According to the 2006 Survey, Corporation employees rated the agency well above the government-wide average in numerous critical areas, such as empowering employees to perform their jobs, linking rewards to job performance, and working together to improve skills levels and work methods. Further, employees explicitly recognize the impact their work has on the Corporation’s mission. For an agency that focuses on national service, it is noteworthy that more than 80 percent of Corporation employees volunteer, compared with a 28.8 rate of volunteering among all Americans, according to the Corporation’s Federal Volunteer Program Report 2006.

The employee survey is not the only indicator of improvement at the Corporation. The Corporation has also increased its customer satisfaction, according to studies conducted using the benchmark American Customer Satisfaction Index. Overall customer satisfaction increased to 71 in 2006, and customer satisfaction among AmeriCorps grantees shot up nine points from 57 in 2004 to 66 last year. The climb in scores for both employee and customer satisfaction comes on the heels of wide-ranging set of reforms in financial, program, and human capital management that have take place over the last three years. The Corporation has expanded the reach of its programs, reduced administrative burdens on grantees, increased its efficiency and accountability, lowered many of it’s per unit program costs, and achieved seven consecutive clean audits.

Raymond Limon, Chief Human Capital Officer, said that the Corporation changed its evaluation system and put new communications tools in place after seeking out advice from workers. “We listened to what our employees said,” he noted. Limon added that Corporation leadership has developed a productive, transparent, and cooperative relationship with the agency’s union, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 2027. Efforts in this area have been recognized by the Society of Federal Labor & Employee Relations Professionals, which has honored Kelly Daly, president of the local union, and Andrew Wasilisin, the Corporation's director of workforce relations, with its 2007 Labor Cooperation Award.

The rankings measure employee satisfaction and engagement and are based on a survey of more than 221,000 federal workers at 280 federal agencies and subcomponents. This sample represents 97 percent of the 1.9 million person federal workforce. The report is at http://www.bestplacestowork.org/BPTW/about/.

The Corporation for National and Community Service improves lives, strengthens communities, and fosters civic engagement through service and volunteering for Americans of all backgrounds. Corporation programs include Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America. For more information, visit http://www.nationalservice.gov.

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